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Fusion Science and Technology
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WIPP: Lessons in transportation safety
As part of a future consent-based approach by the federal government to site new deep geologic repositories for nuclear waste, local communities and states that are considering hosting such facilities are sure to have many questions. Currently, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is the only example of such a repository in operation, and it offers the opportunity for state and local officials to visit and judge for themselves the risks and benefits of hosting a similar facility. But its history can also provide lessons for these officials, particularly the political process leading up to the opening of WIPP, the safety of WIPP operations and transportation of waste from generator facilities to the site, and the economic impacts the project has had on the local area of Carlsbad, as well as the rest of the state of New Mexico.
Zhilin Chen, Masao Matsuyama, Shuming Peng, Yang Yang, Yu Li, Shenghan Cheng
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 74 | Number 3 | October 2018 | Pages 246-251
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2018.1462086
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tritium release behavior in a tungsten sample after exposing to tritium ions with energy about 200 eV created by glow discharge has been studied by both β-ray–induced X-ray spectrometry (BIXS) and imaging plate (IP). The tungsten sample was heated stepwise in a vacuum vessel at temperatures from 400 to 1000 K in experiments, and results obtained from both BIXS and IP measurements showed that the amount of tritium absorbed on the sample surface decreased more than 97% after heating at 800 K. Both intensity and shape of the measured X-ray spectrum have been specified to estimate the change of the tritium depth profile after each heat treatment. Besides, the Monte Carlo Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter (SRIM) code has been introduced to calculate the initial tritium depth profile just after being irradiated by glow discharge. Analysis shows that tritium atoms locate around 3 nm in depth before annealing, and tritium distribution becomes uniform in the near-surface layers (around several nanometers) gradually after heat treatment. At about 800 K, the relative tritium concentration in the near-surface layers reaches its maximum value compared with tritium in the deeper part of the tungsten sample. Then more and more tritium diffuses deeper into the sample as the temperature increases.